Anand Withstands Pressure In Game 2
It was Boris Gelfand's turn to play the white pieces in game 2 of his match against Vishy Anand for the World Chess Championship in Moscow.
The challenger elected to play 1.d4 and Anand chose the Slav Defence in reply. A battle of opening preparation followed, which Anand concluded with the novelty 14...Nf6.
Soon after that the centre pawns were liquidated, leaving Gelfand with a slight edge, but he was unable to convert his temporary initiative into anything more concrete thanks to accurate defence from the champion.
So the initial sparring is out of the way, with honour maintained on both sides. Tomorrow is a rest day, so play will resume on Monday 14 May when Anand will have white in game three.
The opening two games have been interesting, but relatively short and bloodless. Time for the real match to begin!
| Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pts |
| Vishy Anand | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 |
| Boris Gelfand | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 |
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Gelfand maintained some pressure on the champion, but Anand was comfortably equal to the task
Still good friends? Whose smile will be first to disappear?
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All games start at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC). The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and a final 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 seconds increment after move 61.
The prize fund is $2.55 million, with the winner receiving $1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).
If the match is level after 12 games there will be a 4-game rapid match tie-break at 25 minutes per game plus 10 second increment. If scores are still level a 2-game blitz match will be played at 5 minutes plus 3 second increment. If the deadlock is still not broken, there can be up to 5 of the these 2-game blitz matches before a sudden-death blitz game will decide the winner (5 minutes for white, 4 minutes for black, and a 3 second increment from move 61).
The full rules for the match can be found here (pdf).
The match schedule is below (times are Moscow time = UTC+4 hours):
| Date | Event | Time | Date | Event | Time | |
| 11-May | Game 1 | 15:00 | 21-May | Game 8 | 15:00 | |
| 12-May | Game 2 | 15:00 | 22-May | Rest day | ||
| 13-May | Rest day | 23-May | Game 9 | 15:00 | ||
| 14-May | Game 3 | 15:00 | 24-May | Game 10 | 15:00 | |
| 15-May | Game 4 | 15:00 | 25-May | Rest day | ||
| 16-May | Rest day | 26-May | Game 11 | 15:00 | ||
| 17-May | Game 5 | 15:00 | 27-May | Rest day | ||
| 18-May | Game 6 | 15:00 | 28-May | Game 12 | 15:00 | |
| 19-May | Rest day | 29-May | Rest day | |||
| 20-May | Game 7 | 15:00 | 30-May | Tie break | 12:00 |
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The official match website has video commentary in Russian and English. The English language host is Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, who will be joined by Nigel Short (on 11–12 May), Jan Timman (14–15 May), Joel Lautier (17 May), Peter Svidler (18, 23–24 and 28 May), Peter Leko (20–21 May), and Vladimir Kramnik (26 May).
Screenshots taken from the official coverage, which is available for replay at the match website.
